Engineering Approaches to Biomolecular Motors

Engineering Approaches to Biomolecular Motors: From in vitro to in vivo Poster Abstracts

7-POS Board 7 Engineering Structural Dynamic Mechanisms in Molecular Motors and Switches

Xin-Qiu Yao, Guido Scarabelli, Barry J. Grant , University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.

Molecular motors and switches lie at the heart of key biological processes, from the division and growth of cells to the muscular movement of organisms. Our approach to studying these fascinating nanomachines couples bioinformatics, molecular simulations and experimental protein engineering. Here we describe our most recent results that exemplify the power of this approach when applied across evolutionary related motors and switches. This includes: dissection of allosteric mechanisms in G protein switches, prediction and experimental engineering of the first constitutively active heterotrimeric G protein, computational and experimental dissection of microtubule-kinesin motor interactions, and the rational modulation of the key molecular motor property of processive motility - the ability of an individual motor to take multiple steps along its microtubule filament. Software and other material related to this work can be found at: http://thegrantlab.org/ Selected References:

1. Yao, X. et al. J Biol Chem. 291, 4742-4753 (2016). 2. Scarabelli, G et al. Biophys J. 109, 1537–1540 (2015). 3. Skjærven, L. et al. BMC Bioinformatics. 15, 399, (2014). 4. Scarabelli G, Grant BJ. Biophys J.107, 2204-13, (2014) 5. Scarabelli G, Grant BJ. PLoS Comp Biol. 9, e1003329, (2013) 6. Yao XQ, Grant BJ. Biophys J. 105, L08-10, (2013).

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